Stargirl: Chapters 8–15

by Jerry Spinelli
Stargirl Caraway lives life on her own terms, but when she moves to a new town her unique personality rubs others the wrong way. As the school year goes on, Stargirl is torn between staying true to herself and fitting in.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Porcupine Necktie–Chapter 7, Chapters 8–15, Chapters 16–25, Chapter 26–More Than Stars

Here are links to other works by Jerry Spinelli: Maniac Magee, Milkweed
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. ovation
    enthusiastic recognition
    She was commanded down, to a standing ovation and flashing cameras.
  2. sneer
    a facial expression of contempt or scorn
    She sent Stargirl a final sneer and left.
  3. animated
    having life or vigor or spirit
    She gave an animated speech—a performance, really—titled “Elf Owl, Call Me by My First Name.”
  4. confer
    have a meeting in order to talk something over
    While the judges went through the charade of conferring, a film was shown.
  5. documentary
    a film presenting the facts about a person or event
    It was a brief documentary about the previous year’s state finals.
  6. aftermath
    the consequences of an event, especially a catastrophic one
    The most riveting moments of the film came not during the contest, but during its aftermath.
  7. dormant
    in a condition of biological rest or suspended animation
    They lie dormant and waiting, these mud frogs, for without water their lives are incomplete, they are not fully themselves. For many months they sleep like this within the earth.
  8. empathy
    understanding and entering into another's feelings
    Small gestures, words, empathies thought to be extinct came to life.
  9. liberation
    the attempt to achieve equal rights or status
    There was no direction to my liberation.
  10. amorphous
    having no definite form or distinct shape
    So I just enjoyed the feeling and watched the once amorphous student body separate itself into hundreds of individuals.
  11. distinguish
    mark as different
    Ironically, as we discovered and distinguished ourselves, a new collective came into being—a vitality, a presence, a spirit that had not been there before.
  12. reluctance
    a certain degree of unwillingness
    Any reluctance to answering personal or embarrassing questions always yielded to the lure of appearing on TV.
  13. banish
    expel, as if by official decree
    And then Anna’s mother was flinging open the front door and pointing, as if banishing her to the desert. “Leave my house.”
  14. mortified
    made to feel uncomfortable because of shame or wounded pride
    Some of her fellow cheerleaders were amused, some were mortified.
  15. oblivious
    lacking conscious awareness of
    We were comfortable with losing. In fact, most of us were oblivious to it, since we didn’t even attend the games.
  16. rabid
    marked by excessive enthusiasm for a cause or idea
    One day we were bored, indifferent, satisfied losers; the next we were rabid fanatics, stomping in the grandstand, painting our faces green and white, doing the wave as if we had been perfecting it for years.
  17. hapless
    unfortunate and deserving pity
    We even applauded them to spite our own hapless teams.
  18. detest
    dislike intensely
    Now we detested the opposition and everything about them. We hated their uniforms. We hated their coaches and their fans. We hated them because they were trying to spoil our perfect season.
  19. suspense
    apprehension about what is going to happen
    We hated games that went down to the wire. We hated suspense.
  20. mania
    an irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action
    And right there in the middle of it all, in the midst of this perfect season mania, was Stargirl, popping up whenever the ball went through the net, no matter which team scored, cheering everything and everybody.
  21. convoy
    a procession of land vehicles traveling together
    The convoy rolling across the desert that evening stretched for a couple of miles.
  22. infamous
    known widely and usually unfavorably
    There were two chairs on stage: the infamous Hot Seat itself—painted red with flames running up the legs—and an ordinary chair for the host, Kevin.
  23. inquisition
    a severe interrogation
    In the spirit of mock inquisition, we called the subject the “victim.”
  24. undermine
    weaken or impair, especially gradually
    More and more kids saw her cheerleading behavior as undermining the basketball team and its perfect record.
  25. maestro
    an artist of consummate skill
    I was the director, the maestro, I called the shots.
  26. impromptu
    with little or no preparation or forethought
    Then, impromptu, he reached out and stroked the nose of Cinnamon, who was perched on Stargirl’s shoulder.
  27. impish
    naughtily or annoyingly playful
    Her usual impish expression was gone.
  28. cascade
    rush down in big quantities
    This was the start of a period that blurs as I try to recall it. Incidents seem to cascade and merge.
  29. hostility
    a state of deep-seated ill-will
    Tension. What would happen now? Would the jury’s open hostility spill over into the classrooms?
  30. flail
    thrash about
    Our players looked like five Davids flailing against Goliath.
  31. writhing
    moving in a twisting or snake-like or wormlike fashion
    All we knew was that suddenly Goliath was on the floor writhing and screaming, and his right foot looked all wrong, and the Sun Valley coaches and trainer and players were sprinting across the floor.
  32. stricken
    affected by something overwhelming
    While Kovac’s own cheerleaders sat gaping and stricken on their bench, Stargirl knelt on the hardwood floor.
  33. desperation
    a state in which all hope is lost or absent
    I’m sure in our desperation some of us secretly wished for it.
  34. delusion
    a mistaken or unfounded opinion or idea
    The cheers from across the gym were like volleys of arrows piercing our grand delusion. How could we have been so stupid?
  35. defiance
    a hostile challenge
    She shook her fists at us. She flung her defiance at our gloom.
  36. bewilderment
    confusion resulting from failure to understand
    Someone had splattered her face with a perfectly thrown ripe tomato, and as the clock expired and the Glendale fans poured onto the court, Stargirl just stood there, her great eyes staring up at us in utter bewilderment through the pulpy red gore.
  37. subdued
    quieted and brought under control
    She seemed subdued. She did not play her ukulele. She did not play with her rat.
  38. lurk
    be about
    I lurked in the shadows for the rest of the day.
  39. devastation
    the feeling of being confounded or overwhelmed
    We dumped our disappointment on him, the devastation of the loss.
  40. annihilated
    destroyed completely
    In the championship game, our boy got annihilated.
Created on Wed Mar 11 20:53:17 EDT 2015 (updated Tue Jul 17 09:59:15 EDT 2018)

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